The Talented Mr. Ripley

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By PHILIP WUNTCH
Published in The Dallas Morning News: 12.24.99


"The Talented Mr. Ripley" seduces but never abandons its audience.

Based on Patricia Highsmith's classic tale of seduction, deception
and murder, the luxurious film arrives with great expectations,
courtesy of its Oscar-decorated cast and director. Virtually all
those expectations are met, and some are even surpassed. Just don't
expect a fun-in-the-sun romance; "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is dark,
insinuating and compelling.

Director/screenwriter Anthony Minghella, in his first film since the
Oscar-winning "The English Patient," places Ms. Highsmith's teasing
story in Italy during the late '50s, when la dolce vita was in full
blossom. Part of the film's appeal lies in watching the privileged
classes enjoy their privileges, and the cinematography is rich with
florid colors that make you feel as if you're witnessing forbidden
pleasures. The movie seduces you and then urges you to peek beneath
the patina.

If ordinary people, the film's main characters would be described as
lazy and tired. But with these expatriates, dilettantes and sycophants,
only such words as "indolent" and "ridden with ennui'' will suffice.
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" dwells in a society where people actually
exclaim "Nothing untoward happened!'' and no one laughs. Yet the movie
is never starchy. It plays a daring cat-and-mouse game with the
audience, just as its characters do with each other.

When first seen, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) seems to personify pleasant
blandness. His patently agreeable manner suggests a desperation to be
accepted, and he agrees to a powerful shipbuilder's unusual request.
He must go to Italy, befriend the man's wastrel son and persuade him
to return to America and start making money.

With funds supplied by the wealthy father, Ripley hurries to a
picturesque Italian port and locates Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and
his girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow). Both Marge and
Dickie are beautiful people, pampered yet hospitable, and poor Tom
falls in love with their lifestyle. He ultimately becomes so obsessed
with Dickie that he falls in love with him, too.

Dickie knowingly remains an enigma. He constantly criticizes the
worried Marge, with words too barbed to be dismissed as mere banter.
Superficially, Dickie seems to consider it his birthright to be
worshiped. So he feigns innocence, all the while taunting and tempting
Tom. The game playing leads to stolen identities and several murders.

Through it all, Tom feels some degree of pressure but never loses his
focus. Among Mr. Ripley's talents are a gift for mimicry and forgery
combined with the ability to quickly learn the specifics of all types
of music and art. If he had only gone to Hollywood, he would have
become an acclaimed character actor and a great social success.

Mr. Damon's performance works on multiple levels. In the initial
scenes, you'll want to coddle him for his unyielding niceness, but a
tiny hint of something sinister keeps you from embracing the character.
Mr. Damon's greatest triumph is in locating Tom's self-loathing. It
lurks beneath the surface in all scenes and sometimes explodes in
homicidal rage. With each victim, Tom hopes to slay the aspects of
himself that he most detests.

Mr. Law is superb as a golden boy who will counter no tarnishment.
You're never certain how deeply Dickie understands his own instincts,
and that evasiveness makes the game more arresting.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is Ms. Paltrow's first movie since winning
an Oscar as the muse of "Shakespeare in Love." Those expecting a
Gwyneth "vehicle'' will be disappointed. Marge is almost a supporting
role, but Ms. Paltrow gives an assured and poignant performance. Her
photogenic features, which suggest a Grace Kelly version of the Little
Match Girl, are perfect for the role, and Ms. Paltrow expertly charts
Marge's trajectory from loving friend to abandoned fiancee to, finally,
desperate truth-seeker.

Cate Blanchett, whom some people think should have won the Oscar for
"Elizabeth" that went instead to Ms. Paltrow for "Shakespeare," plays
a character not in the original Highsmith novel. Ms. Blanchett's
Meredith Logue, a likable American expatriate hoping to discover
herself in Europe, adds to the plot's tension by showing up at
unlikely times. Even when you begin to predict her appearances, you
enjoy them. Ms. Blanchett is a strong actress, who deserves to once
again carry her own movie as regally as she carried "Elizabeth."

Other fine work is done by Philip Seymour Hoffman as a pesky and
prissy snob and Jack Davenport as possibly the only character with an
honest self-evaluation.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" inhabits a world of shiny, sparkly surfaces.
Looking beneath those surfaces provides provocative fun and probing
drama. It's one of the year's finest.

Published in The Dallas Morning News: 12.24.99